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Architects: Trewhela Williams
- Area: 45 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Marcello Mariana
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Manufacturers: Marmi Faedo
Text description provided by the architects. Trewhela Williams and Etraterra were commissioned by the Vicenza-based company Marmi Faedo, who operate the only Grolla stone quarry in the world, to design a stand from their signature limestone for a stone trade fair in Verona. The overall installation was conceived as a minimalist Grolla landscape and serene setting insulated from the bustle of the trade fair. Grolla's excellent technical mechanical characteristics of low water absorption, resistance to abrasion, salt, pollution and frost have lent it to external application over the centuries and meant that this ancient material that can be found across several historic civic buildings, city squares, fountains and monuments around Northern Italy. One notable example in Vicenza is the distinctive balustrades of the San Michele Bridge, which were carved from solid Grolla back in 1621. It is the abstracted curvature of these that has informed the central gesture of the stand - a 6m long monolithic bar.
The sculptural simplicity of the bar's frontage is distinguished by its base peeling away from the ground plane to form a pronounced belly, which inflects into a cantilevered countertop. The bar comprises of 3 sections of carved solid Grolla Beige and Rosato, with each section weighing 4.9 tonnes, which required their careful craning and positioning into place. The final geometry of the bar's profile was finessed in coordination with structural engineers Bailiss & Co who guided on the lateral stability of the object, factoring in characteristic live loads of bar users leaning on the edge of the cantilevered countertop (as the temporary nature of the installation prohibited base fixings into the ground).
The heavy-set bar is complimented by a cluster of supporting elements - bar stools, coffee table, bench seating and plant troughs, all formed from Grolla and working together in unison as a harmonious whole. The strong, weighty geometry of these forms is offset by the wild informality of the Eucalyptus Gunnii screening bushes to the stand's perimeter. The limestone elements showcase a variety of finishes from the flamed floor tiles, sawn sides of the bar and honed countertop. At the end of the trade fair, the installation was dismantled and transported back to Marmi Faedo's workshop, where it was reassembled and now serves as a bar for the craftsmen who first shaped the elements.
Quotation - "There is a beautiful, subtle character to Grolla's surface distinguished by its delicate webbed vein patterning and shifting palette of neutral tones with hints of pink and beige. It was felt that a design approach founded on sculptural simplicity and strong geometry would best showcase its enduring visual hallmarks. We sought to convey a weighty, monumental quality and as such looked to Grolla's rich history in Marmi Faedo's own hometown of Vicenza for inspiration in the shaping of the bar's monolithic form." Joseph Williams
